5-day tour

Day 1: Gondar - Sankaber (3250 m), 3-4 hours

Early morning we drive along a good gravel road from Gondar to the park headquarters in Debark. The 100 km journey will take around three hours. At the headquarters we will arrange our permits to the park and pick up our scout. After that we will drive for another hour before we start our first day introductory walk. This first hike is an easy one along the northern edge of the escarpment with a nice view points over the foothills and plains of northern Ethiopia. You will encounter gelada baboon along this hike.

Day 2: Sankaber - Gich (3600 m), 5-6 hours

We follow the northern escarpment eastward, before we descend a little into the Kaba Valley. After that we climb up before we reach Gich Abyss over a narrow ridge to a cliff where we have a spectacular view of the abyss towards the Simien foothills. We also find a large waterfall here, where the Jinbar River plunges 500 m into the abyss. We proceed for about two hours and have lunch at the Jinbar River. After lunch we walk through fields of barley before we arrive at the idyllic village of Gich. Here we can enjoy a traditional coffee ceremony in one of the huts and learn more about local farm life. From Gich village it is a short walk to Gich camp which is a good area to look for lammergeyer and thick billed raven.

Day 3: Gich (3600 m), 5-6 hours

This day we will walk to three of the most spectacular view points in the Simien Mountains. From Gich camp we stroll through endless fields of Giant Lobelia before we reach the towering cliffs of Imet-Gogo (3926 m). Here we will spend some time to absorb the superb views over the mountain valleys below and strange shaped domes in the distance, which we will see from up close at the end of the trip. After that we will continue to Seha, another view point amidst deep gorges, before returning to Gich camp where we will have lunch. After a relaxing afternoon, we will take a short hike up to Kedadit to enjoy sunset. We return to Gich camp, where we sleep for the second night for the sake of acclimatization and gorgeous surrounding views.

Day 4: Gich - Chennek (3600m), 7-8 hours

From Gich camp we initially start off through the same fields of Giant Lobelia as yesterday, but soon we descend into the Jinbahir River Valley. In this way we get a very different perspective of Imet-Gogo and the volcanic landscape, where it looks like big chunks of mountains have been blown away. The trail follows the edge of the escarpment, which is completely vertical here for several hundred meters. We climb to a summit of 4070 m where we will have lunch. After lunch we descend to Chennek for about two hours along a steep trail. From Chennek camp there are spectacular views in all directions. Sit down on a bench at the escarpment and try to spot Walia Ibex in late afternoon or early morning. Sometimes Walia Ibex visit the edges of the camp site. 

Day 5: Chenek – Buwahit - Gondar, 5-6 hours

Climb the second highest peak in the Simien mountains Buwahit (4430m) rewarding with one of the endemic wild animals in Ethiopia particularly in the Simien mountains called Walia Ibex (a goat family), in addition to the scenic views of surroundings including the chance to see the highest mountain peak in Ethiopia, Ras-Dashen (4543m) and back down to Chenek camp where the car waiting us to pick and drive back to Gondar for about 5 hrs.